Obama selects critics of Bush

With his choices for top intelligence and Justice Department posts, President-elect Barack Obama issued strong signals Monday that he intends to reverse secret Bush administration counter-terrorism policies.

THE NATION'S TOP SPY AGENCY will be led by Leon Panetta, a Clinton administration veteran who is short on direct experience in intelligence gathering -- and who has called on Obama to reverse post-Sept. 11 anti-terrorism practices such as harsh interrogations, waterboarding and the secret transfer of prisoners to other governments with a history of torture.

News services reported Monday that Obama will tap Panetta, who was Clinton's White House chief of staff, an eight-term congressman and administrative expert, as head of the CIA.

IN A STARTLING SHIFT, Obama picked Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen to take charge of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.

Under President George W. Bush, the office churned out the legal opinions that provided a foundation for expanding the president's national security powers, including warrantless spying on Americans and indefinite detention of terrorism suspects.

Johnsen, who spent five years at the Office of Legal Counsel during the Clinton administration, has publicly assailed "Bush's corruption of our American ideals" and excoriated the unit's lawyers for advising Bush "that in fighting the war on terror, he is not bound by the laws Congress has enacted."